The Arisths Book One: The Beginning: Part 4
by John2
Summary: Terace and his friends must escape thier Dome ship before it is destroyed!


The Arisths  
Book One: The Beginning  
Part 4  
  
Assinko led me to the others. Caroof was watching the battle outside. Maheen was awaiting Assinko's return. There was a long gash on her arm and blue-black blood was seeping out.  
Terace! You're alive! She and Caroof came over to us.  
Yeah, no thanks to the Yeerks. I said sarcastically.  
My thoughts exactly. A voice from behind me said.  
Esgarrouth! I ran over to him.  
Yeah, I'm alive. He said. And we can stay that way by getting off this ship!   
Everyone realized that we would die if the dome ship were destroyed.  
Let's get out of here! We ran for the portal. The portal is what we call the entrance/exit to the dome. The entire dome looked like some sort of battlefield. Andalites everywhere, their bodies in strange shapes caused by the breaking of bones. I saw an aristh I knew speared through the chest by a Derrishoul tree. As we ran among the dead bodies, one of them moved. I stopped and recognized him as the captain.  
Aristh...  
Captain.   
There... there is a ... ship of... mine in docking... bay 91. Take it. But... He groaned in pain. But... don't look at ... the computer... top... secret... the captain's arm dropped slowly down to his side and he lay still. There was nothing I could do but run. We jumped into the portal and the gavity immediately shifted, giving the illusion that we were running forward when we were actually going straight down.   
What did the Captain say to you? Esgarrouth yelled to me as we dodged the panicking Warriors and technicians who filled the hall.  
He said his ship was in Docking Bay 91.   
Do you know how to fly a ship?   
No... but how hard can it be?   
Here it is. Caroof said. He had stopped next to a door. The door slid open and we ran into the docking bay. I don't think one of us was able to stop ourselves from staring. It was in the traditional oval shape, with a normal shredder, but there were more engines than usual. There were oval like bulges all over the ship's body that were secondary engines. The craft was also heavily armed with rotating shredder turrets, bomb tubes, and missile launchers. And this ship was big. So big, it had a hangar of its own. To top it all off, the ship was painted a shining gold, with the words Golden Nebula written in flowing script on the side. Then the ship's spell on us was broken when the Dome ship was hit again. We ran for the entry way. Inside there were signs pointing to where the corridors lead. I noticed one said fighter bay...  
Okay four of us will go to the hanger and fly escort. One of us has to pilot this ship.  
I'll do that. Caroof said.  
Good. We'll hold off the Bug Fighters and then regroup for the Z- space jump.  
No one had to say anything and then we were off. It was a short run to the fighter bay, where at least sixteen modified fighters sat in their racks. Each one had some sort of defensive enhancement.   
Okay. No time to be picky. Everyone just take a fighter. I was only saying this because I had my eyes on a modified fighter with twin triangular blades on the bottom, probably for tearing up the hulls of other ships. I ran over and got in before anyone else could. Esgarrouth got into one with a twin missile launchers on top. Assinko's fighter was heavily armored and heavily outfitted with all types of bombs. Maheen's ship had four engines, allowing for greater maneuverability and double shreders. Suddenly, the whole hanger seemed to tremble as the ship was hit again. No time to wait, we had to launch. Blue fire emitted from our engines and then...  
FFFFWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!  
We were out of the fighter bay in a second. I don't remember even seeing the hangar's ceiling going by overhead. The fighter was amazingly easy to handle. I really don't know what I expected it to be like. I looked out my view port at the others. We were flying in a horizontal line away from our Dome Ship. Suddenly a small red light flashed.   
Computer, I asked.What is that?  
Incoming ships at twelve o' clock. Approaching at attack velocity. A disembodied voice answered.  
Four black objects were speeding towards us. As they got closer, I could see they resembled leg-less insects. The cockpit, which looked like a head, had to spears sticking out on either side.   
Yeerk Bug Fighters.  
Each one was piloted by a Hork Bajir and a Taxxon.  
Okay everyone, four of them, four of us. Divide and conquer.  
Oh yes, great leader, master of us lowly arisths. Maheen said sarcastically.  
Shut up. I muttered.  
We broke formation and engaged the Bug Fighters. My target was skilled; he avoided all of my shots. He looped behind me and opened fire. I applied the breaks and let him speed by. My shredder fired, cutting into his hull and causing the fighter to explode in flame. By the time I was done, so were the rest my friends. We turned back to the Gold Nebula.  
We're docking now. Get ready to make the Z- Space jump, Caroof.  
Okay.  
We docked and made our way to the bridge. Caroof made the Z- Space jump, and at the same time, the Tail Strike, the Dome ship I had trained on, erupted in a blinding flash and was gone. 


End file.
